Mario Šlaus
Biographic Data
| ID | 75553 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mario Šlaus |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mario |
| FAMILY NAME | Šlaus |
| SIGNATURE | ŠLAUS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4941-2212 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 151 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Periostitis as an Indicator of the Impact of Subadult Stress: An Analysis of Late Antique Sites in Southern Pannonia
Subadult physiological stress and non-specific infectious conditions are key bioarchaeological indicators of health and mortality risk. This study examines the impact of periostitis (PO), along with multiple subadult stress indicators, on adult age at death in Late Antique Southern Pannonia. The sample comprises 400 adults (>15 years) from four archaeological sites (Osijek–Mursa, Vinkovci–Cibalae, Štrbinci–Certissa, and Tekić–Incerum). Previously…
Effect of Subadult Stress—Cribra Orbitalia and Linear Enamel Hypoplasia on Adult Mortality in Late Antique Southern Pannonia
Subadult stress is an important bioarchaeological indicator of the health status of archaeological populations, and its interpretation requires consideration of biological, environmental, and social factors. This paper examines the impact of cribra orbitalia (CO) and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) on adult mortality in Late Antique Southern Pannonia. A sample of 400 adult individuals from the sites of Mursa (Osijek), Cibalae (Vinkovci), Certissa …
Social and genetic diversity in first farmers of central Europe
The Linearbandkeramik (LBK) Neolithic communities were the first to spread farming across large parts of Europe. We report genome-wide data for 250 individuals: 178 individuals from whole-cemetery surveys of the Alföld Linearbankeramik Culture eastern LBK site of Polgár-Ferenci-hát, the western LBK site of Nitra Horné Krškany and the western LBK settlement and massacre site of Asparn-Schletz, as well as 48 LBK individuals from 16 other sites and …
Weapons Related Perimortem Injuries in an Individual From the Krbava Cathedral Cemetery in Croatia - Possibly Sustained During the Battle on Krbava Field in 1493
Recent archaeological excavations of the historic period Krbava cathedral cemetery in the Lika region of Croatia revealed the presence of an individual with an antemortem fracture typical of interpersonal violence as well as a large number of perimortem sharp force injuries located in the cranial and postcranial skeleton. The cemetery is located just 500 meters south of the field of Krbava where a large battle between an Ottoman and Croatian army…
Diachronic Comparison of Three Historical Skeletal Series from Croatia with Regard to Mandibular Bone Quality
The aim of this study was to assess the quality of mandibular bone using CBCT images in archeological populations that inhabited Croatia from the medieval to the Early Modern Period. A total of 88 human skulls (45 male and 43 female) from three samples (pre-Ottoman (N = 27), Ottoman (N = 32), and Vlach (N = 29)) were analyzed by using CBCT. The mental index, gonion index, antegonion index, panoramic mandibular index, degree of resorption of the a…
Exploring connectivity in Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Greece and the Balkans using cranial non-metric analysis
The present study aims to explore connectivity and networking in Late Bronze Age (LBA)/Early Iron Age (EIA) Greece and the Balkans using morphological biodistance analysis and test the potentiality of newly introduced statistical tests, which were designed for challenging datasets, in this particular cultural area. Cranial non-metric traits were recorded in ten skeletal collections, spanning from East Crete to Romania. We followed an experimental…
In service to the sultan: Biological affinity analysis of Vlach Ottoman vassals from the Šarić Struga and Koprivno‐Križ sites in southern Croatia
As a cultural isolate and historically labeled ethnicity, the extent of biological divergence between Vlachs and non‐Vlachs in Southeast Europe is not well understood. Here, we present a comparison of metric and non‐metric cranial morphology designed to investigate the degree to which a Vlach sample ( n = 32) from the Ottoman period in southern Croatia is biologically differentiated from non‐Vlach communities. By calculating Relethford–Blangero d…
Sexual dimorphism in mastoid process volumes measured from 3D models of dry crania from mediaeval Croatia
3D analysis of skeletal volumes has become an important field in digital anthropology studies. The volume of the mastoid process has been proposed to display significant sexual dimorphism, but it has a complex shape and to date no study has quantified the full mastoid volume for sex estimation purposes. In this study we compared three different ways to isolate the volume of the mastoid process from digital 3D models of dry crania, and then evalua…
New Radiocarbon Dates, Stable Isotope, and Anthropological Analysis of Prehistoric Human Bones from the Balkans and Southwestern Carpathian Basin
The paper provides a detailed overview of new radiocarbon dates, stable isotopes, and anthropological information obtained on prehistoric human remains (mostly Neolithic) from the Balkans and southwestern Carpathian Basin. It covers a large chronological sequence from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (9746–2628 cal BC), which encompasses different archaeological cultures. In total 76 radiocarbon dates deriving from 27 sites were obtained, coupled…
Correlation Between Social Status and Health in Early Medieval Dalmatia
The early mediaeval period in Croatia is rarely mentioned in historical sources. The development of society during this period was greatly influenced by formation of communities, within which there were many inequalities. The social group one belonged to and its ordinance were the main factors in the material and spiritual life of mediaeval man. Within Croatia, during the Early Middle Ages the process of social disintegration and the formation of…
A case of hydrocephalus in a child from early modern period Žumberak, Croatia
The earliest recorded case of lepromatous leprosy in continental Croatia
The genomic history of southeastern Europe
Endemic warfare and dental health in historic period archaeological series from Croatia
This study assesses the prevalence and distribution of caries, antemortem tooth loss, abscesses, calculus, alveolar bone resorption, and tooth wear in two large composite archaeological series from Croatia in order to determine the effects that long‐term, endemic warfare had on dental health and nutrition. The first series consists of dental material belonging to three cemeteries dated to the late medieval period (1100–1400), a period characteris…
Assessing childhood stress in early mediaeval Croatia by using multiple lines of inquiry
c. CE) sites on the eastern Adriatic coast is analysed in this report. A total of 242 individuals (83 subadults, 69 adult females, and 90 adult males) were assessed for the presence of linear enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, sub-periosteal new bone formation, and scurvy. In addition, the dietary profile of nine subadults was assessed by the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from bulk collagen. Over three quarters of individuals …
Metals and millets: Bronze and Iron Age diet in inland and coastal Croatia seen through stable isotope analysis
Two cases of neurogenic paralysis in medieval skeletal samples from Croatia
Water consumption in Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval Croatia
Patterns of water consumption by past human populations are rarely considered, yet drinking behavior is socially mediated and access to water sources is often socially controlled. Oxygen isotope analysis of archeological human remains is commonly used to identify migrants in the archeological record, but it can also be used to consider water itself, as this technique documents water consumption rather than migration directly. Here, we report an o…
Carabelli's trait in Croatian populations over 1800 years
Bone growth, limb proportions and non-specific stress in archaeological populations from Croatia
These findings highlight the complexity of growth patterns in past populations and indicate that variation in environmental conditions such as diet and differences in the nature of non-specific stress lesions both exert a significant effect on long bone growth
Navigare necesse est. Possible reconstruction of a maritime-activities related occupation based on the presence of auditory exostoses in an individual from the Roman period city of Iader
Large bilateral auditory exostoses were recorded in the skeleton of an adult male buried in the Roman period necropolis of Zadar-Relja (the Roman colony of Iader) in southern Croatia. As the occurrence of auditory exostoses in both past and modern populations has been correlated with prolonged exposure to cold water, the authors propose that during his lifetime this individual performed activities requiring frequent contact with cold water for an…
Skeletal and dental indicators of health in the late mediaeval (12–15th century) population from Nin, southern Croatia
Bone fractures as indicators of intentional violence in the eastern adriatic from the antique to the late medieval period (2nd–16th century AD)
To test the historically documented hypothesis of a general increase in deliberate violence in the eastern Adriatic from the antique (AN; 2nd–6th c.) through the early medieval (EM; 7th–11th c.) to the late‐medieval period (LM; 12th–16th c.), an analysis of the frequency and patterning of bone trauma was conducted in three skeletal series from these time periods. A total of 1,125 adult skeletons—346 from the AN, 313 from the EM, and 466 from the …
Changing cultures, changing cuisines: Cultural transitions and dietary change in iron age, roman, and early medieval croatia
Food is well‐known to encode social and cultural values, for example different social groups use different consumption patterns to act as social boundaries. When societies and cultures change, whether through drift, through population replacement or other factors, diet may also alter despite unchanging resource availability within a region. This study investigates the extent to which dietary change coincides with cultural change, to understand th…
Frequency and patterning of bone trauma in the late medieval population (13th-16th century) from Dugopolje, southern Croatia
The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis of an increased level of interpersonal violence in Dugopolje during the late medieval period as testified by written sources. In order to accomplish this, an analysis and comparison of frequencies and patterning of long bone and craniofacial fractures between sex and age categories in the Dugopolje skeletal sample was performed. In total 209 excellently preserved adult skeletons were analysed: 111 m…
Changing cultures, changing cuisines: Cultural transitions and dietary change in iron age, roman, and early medieval croatia
Food is well‐known to encode social and cultural values, for example different social groups use different consumption patterns to act as social boundaries. When societies and cultures change, whether through drift, through population replacement or other factors, diet may also alter despite unchanging resource availability within a region. This study investigates the extent to which dietary change coincides with cultural change, to understand th…
Metals and millets: Bronze and Iron Age diet in inland and coastal Croatia seen through stable isotope analysis
Exploring the Mesolithic and Neolithic transition in Croatia through isotopic investigations
The generalised picture of Mesolithic marine diet giving way to a Neolithic terrestrial diet, as derived from isotope measurements, has been both championed and challenged in this journal. Here new results from the Balkans offer a preliminary picture of a diversity of food strategy, both before and after the great transition
Osteological and dental markers of health in the transition from the Late Antique to the Early Medieval period in Croatia
The purpose of this study is to analyze health at the transition from the Late Antique (LA) to the Early Medieval (EM) period in Croatia. Results of the analyses of skeletal remains are compared with historical and archaeological data to test the hypothesis that the transition was catastrophic. An additional objective is to determine whether the transition was a uniform process, or differentially affected the past inhabitants of Croatia because o…
Dental health at the transition from the Late Antique to the early Medieval period on Croatia's eastern Adriatic coast
Dento-alveolar pathologies: caries, ante mortem tooth loss, abscesses, calculus, alveolar resorption and tooth wear were analysed in two composite skeletal series from Croatia's eastern Adriatic coast (Dalmatia). The first consists of 103 skeletons from seven Late Antique (3rd-6th century AD) sites, the second of 151 skeletons from three Early Medieval (7th-11th centuries AD) sites. As recent bioarhaeological studies (Šlaus,2008) showed a signifi…
The harsh life on the 15th century Croatia‐Ottoman Empire military border: Analyzing and identifying the reasons for the massacre in Čepin
Excavation of the historic period cemetery in Čepin, Croatia revealed the presence of a large number of perimortem injuries distributed among males, females, and subadults. Archaeological and historical data suggest these individuals were victims of a raid carried out by Turkish akinji light cavalry in 1441. Comparisons with the frequencies of perimortem trauma in 12 other, temporally congruent skeletal series from the Balkans ( n = 2,123 skeleto…
Vertebral pathologies in two early modern period (16th–19th century) populations from Croatia
In order to test to what degree Schmorl's nodes (SN), osteophytosis of the vertebral bodies (VO), and osteoarthritis of the articular facets (OA) are useful indicators of activity‐related stress, an analysis of their frequencies and severity of expression was conducted in two early Modern period skeletal samples from Croatia—Koprivno and Sisak. Historic and contemporary ethnographic sources suggest that living conditions were more demanding in Ko…
Bone fractures as indicators of intentional violence in the eastern adriatic from the antique to the late medieval period (2nd–16th century AD)
To test the historically documented hypothesis of a general increase in deliberate violence in the eastern Adriatic from the antique (AN; 2nd–6th c.) through the early medieval (EM; 7th–11th c.) to the late‐medieval period (LM; 12th–16th c.), an analysis of the frequency and patterning of bone trauma was conducted in three skeletal series from these time periods. A total of 1,125 adult skeletons—346 from the AN, 313 from the EM, and 466 from the …
Endemic warfare and dental health in historic period archaeological series from Croatia
This study assesses the prevalence and distribution of caries, antemortem tooth loss, abscesses, calculus, alveolar bone resorption, and tooth wear in two large composite archaeological series from Croatia in order to determine the effects that long‐term, endemic warfare had on dental health and nutrition. The first series consists of dental material belonging to three cemeteries dated to the late medieval period (1100–1400), a period characteris…
Assessing childhood stress in early mediaeval Croatia by using multiple lines of inquiry
c. CE) sites on the eastern Adriatic coast is analysed in this report. A total of 242 individuals (83 subadults, 69 adult females, and 90 adult males) were assessed for the presence of linear enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, sub-periosteal new bone formation, and scurvy. In addition, the dietary profile of nine subadults was assessed by the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from bulk collagen. Over three quarters of individuals …
Water consumption in Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval Croatia
Patterns of water consumption by past human populations are rarely considered, yet drinking behavior is socially mediated and access to water sources is often socially controlled. Oxygen isotope analysis of archeological human remains is commonly used to identify migrants in the archeological record, but it can also be used to consider water itself, as this technique documents water consumption rather than migration directly. Here, we report an o…
Stafne's defects in two mandibles from archaeological sites in Croatia
Salivary gland inclusions in the mandible are relatively uncommon in recent as well as archaeological populations. This condition is well known to oral surgeons, but less so to anthropologists, osteologists and skeletal biologists. At present a limited number of reports pertaining to this condition in ancient populations are available in anthropological and palaeopathological literature, although scattered reports of cases in recent populations a…
Social and genetic diversity in first farmers of central Europe
The Linearbandkeramik (LBK) Neolithic communities were the first to spread farming across large parts of Europe. We report genome-wide data for 250 individuals: 178 individuals from whole-cemetery surveys of the Alföld Linearbankeramik Culture eastern LBK site of Polgár-Ferenci-hát, the western LBK site of Nitra Horné Krškany and the western LBK settlement and massacre site of Asparn-Schletz, as well as 48 LBK individuals from 16 other sites and …
Exploring connectivity in Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Greece and the Balkans using cranial non-metric analysis
The present study aims to explore connectivity and networking in Late Bronze Age (LBA)/Early Iron Age (EIA) Greece and the Balkans using morphological biodistance analysis and test the potentiality of newly introduced statistical tests, which were designed for challenging datasets, in this particular cultural area. Cranial non-metric traits were recorded in ten skeletal collections, spanning from East Crete to Romania. We followed an experimental…
Biocultural analysis of sex differences in mortality profiles and stress levels in the late medieval population from Nova Rača, Croatia
Human skeletal remains of 104 individuals from the late medieval (14th–18th century) Nova Rača cemetery, in continental Croatia, are described. Historic data from the parish Book of the Dead, relevant to a period in the early 19th century, suggest that females may have been under greater stress than males. To test this hypothesis, the skeletal material is analyzed for the presence and distribution of enamel hypoplasias and cribra orbitalia. Obser…
Biocultural analysis of sex differences in mortality profiles and stress levels in the late medieval population from Nova Rača, Croatia
Human skeletal remains of 104 individuals from the late medieval (14th-18th century) Nova Raca cemetery, in continental Croatia, are described. Historic data from the parish Book of the Dead, relevant to a period in the early 19th century, suggest that females may have been under greater stress than males. To test this hypothesis, the skeletal material is analyzed for the presence and distribution of enamel hypoplasias and cribra orbitalia. Obser…
Life stress on the Roman limes in continental Croatia
Osteological and dental markers of health in the transition from the Late Antique to the Early Medieval period in Croatia
The purpose of this study is to analyze health at the transition from the Late Antique (LA) to the Early Medieval (EM) period in Croatia. Results of the analyses of skeletal remains are compared with historical and archaeological data to test the hypothesis that the transition was catastrophic. An additional objective is to determine whether the transition was a uniform process, or differentially affected the past inhabitants of Croatia because o…
The harsh life on the 15th century Croatia‐Ottoman Empire military border: Analyzing and identifying the reasons for the massacre in Čepin
Excavation of the historic period cemetery in Čepin, Croatia revealed the presence of a large number of perimortem injuries distributed among males, females, and subadults. Archaeological and historical data suggest these individuals were victims of a raid carried out by Turkish akinji light cavalry in 1441. Comparisons with the frequencies of perimortem trauma in 12 other, temporally congruent skeletal series from the Balkans ( n = 2,123 skeleto…
Vertebral pathologies in two early modern period (16th–19th century) populations from Croatia
In order to test to what degree Schmorl's nodes (SN), osteophytosis of the vertebral bodies (VO), and osteoarthritis of the articular facets (OA) are useful indicators of activity‐related stress, an analysis of their frequencies and severity of expression was conducted in two early Modern period skeletal samples from Croatia—Koprivno and Sisak. Historic and contemporary ethnographic sources suggest that living conditions were more demanding in Ko…
Dental health at the transition from the Late Antique to the early Medieval period on Croatia's eastern Adriatic coast
Dento-alveolar pathologies: caries, ante mortem tooth loss, abscesses, calculus, alveolar resorption and tooth wear were analysed in two composite skeletal series from Croatia's eastern Adriatic coast (Dalmatia). The first consists of 103 skeletons from seven Late Antique (3rd-6th century AD) sites, the second of 151 skeletons from three Early Medieval (7th-11th centuries AD) sites. As recent bioarhaeological studies (Šlaus,2008) showed a signifi…
Stafne's defects in two mandibles from archaeological sites in Croatia
Salivary gland inclusions in the mandible are relatively uncommon in recent as well as archaeological populations. This condition is well known to oral surgeons, but less so to anthropologists, osteologists and skeletal biologists. At present a limited number of reports pertaining to this condition in ancient populations are available in anthropological and palaeopathological literature, although scattered reports of cases in recent populations a…
Exploring the Mesolithic and Neolithic transition in Croatia through isotopic investigations
The generalised picture of Mesolithic marine diet giving way to a Neolithic terrestrial diet, as derived from isotope measurements, has been both championed and challenged in this journal. Here new results from the Balkans offer a preliminary picture of a diversity of food strategy, both before and after the great transition
Skeletal and dental indicators of health in the late mediaeval (12–15th century) population from Nin, southern Croatia
Bone fractures as indicators of intentional violence in the eastern adriatic from the antique to the late medieval period (2nd–16th century AD)
To test the historically documented hypothesis of a general increase in deliberate violence in the eastern Adriatic from the antique (AN; 2nd–6th c.) through the early medieval (EM; 7th–11th c.) to the late‐medieval period (LM; 12th–16th c.), an analysis of the frequency and patterning of bone trauma was conducted in three skeletal series from these time periods. A total of 1,125 adult skeletons—346 from the AN, 313 from the EM, and 466 from the …
Changing cultures, changing cuisines: Cultural transitions and dietary change in iron age, roman, and early medieval croatia
Food is well‐known to encode social and cultural values, for example different social groups use different consumption patterns to act as social boundaries. When societies and cultures change, whether through drift, through population replacement or other factors, diet may also alter despite unchanging resource availability within a region. This study investigates the extent to which dietary change coincides with cultural change, to understand th…
Frequency and patterning of bone trauma in the late medieval population (13th-16th century) from Dugopolje, southern Croatia
The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis of an increased level of interpersonal violence in Dugopolje during the late medieval period as testified by written sources. In order to accomplish this, an analysis and comparison of frequencies and patterning of long bone and craniofacial fractures between sex and age categories in the Dugopolje skeletal sample was performed. In total 209 excellently preserved adult skeletons were analysed: 111 m…
Carabelli's trait in Croatian populations over 1800 years
Bone growth, limb proportions and non-specific stress in archaeological populations from Croatia
These findings highlight the complexity of growth patterns in past populations and indicate that variation in environmental conditions such as diet and differences in the nature of non-specific stress lesions both exert a significant effect on long bone growth
Navigare necesse est. Possible reconstruction of a maritime-activities related occupation based on the presence of auditory exostoses in an individual from the Roman period city of Iader
Large bilateral auditory exostoses were recorded in the skeleton of an adult male buried in the Roman period necropolis of Zadar-Relja (the Roman colony of Iader) in southern Croatia. As the occurrence of auditory exostoses in both past and modern populations has been correlated with prolonged exposure to cold water, the authors propose that during his lifetime this individual performed activities requiring frequent contact with cold water for an…
Two cases of neurogenic paralysis in medieval skeletal samples from Croatia
Water consumption in Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval Croatia
Patterns of water consumption by past human populations are rarely considered, yet drinking behavior is socially mediated and access to water sources is often socially controlled. Oxygen isotope analysis of archeological human remains is commonly used to identify migrants in the archeological record, but it can also be used to consider water itself, as this technique documents water consumption rather than migration directly. Here, we report an o…
Metals and millets: Bronze and Iron Age diet in inland and coastal Croatia seen through stable isotope analysis
The genomic history of southeastern Europe
Endemic warfare and dental health in historic period archaeological series from Croatia
This study assesses the prevalence and distribution of caries, antemortem tooth loss, abscesses, calculus, alveolar bone resorption, and tooth wear in two large composite archaeological series from Croatia in order to determine the effects that long‐term, endemic warfare had on dental health and nutrition. The first series consists of dental material belonging to three cemeteries dated to the late medieval period (1100–1400), a period characteris…
Assessing childhood stress in early mediaeval Croatia by using multiple lines of inquiry
c. CE) sites on the eastern Adriatic coast is analysed in this report. A total of 242 individuals (83 subadults, 69 adult females, and 90 adult males) were assessed for the presence of linear enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, sub-periosteal new bone formation, and scurvy. In addition, the dietary profile of nine subadults was assessed by the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from bulk collagen. Over three quarters of individuals …
A case of hydrocephalus in a child from early modern period Žumberak, Croatia
The earliest recorded case of lepromatous leprosy in continental Croatia
Correlation Between Social Status and Health in Early Medieval Dalmatia
The early mediaeval period in Croatia is rarely mentioned in historical sources. The development of society during this period was greatly influenced by formation of communities, within which there were many inequalities. The social group one belonged to and its ordinance were the main factors in the material and spiritual life of mediaeval man. Within Croatia, during the Early Middle Ages the process of social disintegration and the formation of…
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (25 works) · Archaeology (21 works) · Geography (21 works) · Medicine (17 works) · Biology (15 works) · Demography (14 works) · Forensic and Genetic Research (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (10 works) · Dentistry (10 works) · Population (10 works)